Boys to men
by wanderingsmith
Summary: S/W - An evenin' in an Irish pub


Summary: An evenin' in an Irish pub  
Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.

AN: _Playing with timelines here. Remington Steele from S3, John S3 and Captain Holland (Pandora's clock). in response to a convo on Livejournal_

"Now *him* for example."

Elizabeth followed the pointing finger, tilting her head in consideration. "Well.. he's good-looking, yes. But... too boyish. I'd feel like I was escorting my baby brother."

"Boyish? I thought boyish was good??"

She rolled her eyes at the confused complaint, reaching over to pat his hand, "I like boyishness; playfulness. I'm just not interested in a boy-toy."

"..You're just saying that because you don't want me to die my hair."

"...Ummm?"

John looked up from his maudlin stare into his beer at her distracted tone, following her very slightly smiling expression to the man walking through the door. The commercial pilot's uniform had no doubt been crisp at the start of the man's day, but at a guess that was a several hours flight ago and now there were wrinkles around the arms and thighs. The guy even had his tie stretched to hang loose around his neck.

Frowning at his straying lady, John looking back at the man before asking disbelievingly, "What?? That guy's older than *I* am!"

"Umm?" Elizabeth turned back to her table-mate with a happy smile.

He wanted to pretend that she was faking it to prove a point, but between the fact that he didn't think Elizabeth would do that to him and the fact that he couldn't see any hint of a lie in her expression.. He looked back at the pilot, standing at the bar and sipping his whiskey with obvious enjoyment while staring at the soccer scores on the TV. "You seriously like white hair?"

Standing up and ruffling said paling hair for the pitiful tone, Elizabeth gave him a teasing smile, "That's closer to salt-and-pepper. But yes; I do. Trust me, John, it feeds a very real feminine instincts. A few creases around the eyes and mouth, white hairs.. automatic increase in sex appeal," she nodded to the rest of the pub, "Just look around and count how many women are staring at the 'old' guy. Trust me, it's not the uniform."

She patted the top of his head and walked toward the ladies' room without another word and John was left doing as she'd said; counting the feminine eyes smiling at the tired, scrubby-faced pilot with white hair.

Not that there weren't plenty of eyes on the 20-something year-old with the oh so damn perfect movie-star looks. When their eyes crossed and he lifted his beer at John with a grin toward where Elizabeth had disappeared, John accepted the accolade by returning the gesture; swallowing the last of his ale as he watched the serious lady in the heels hurry to MovieStar's side and jolly him on his way.

He still couldn't help envying him. In his mind, that was still *him*. The fact that he'd had to up the reps on his workout just to stay in his usual shape was far easier to deny than the grey he'd discovered after yesterday's haircut, but both were driving him crazy.

He got up to refill their drinks, ending up besides the pilot as the barkeep mixed Elizabeth's margarita. Definitely white. The fellow turned a friendly look on him, eyes that had seen darker things than the New York to Dublin hop taking instant assessment before nodding.

About to start the usual bar small talk, John closed his mouth as he watched the pretty blonde lady with the entirely too-familiar political mien walk through the door and look around. AgedPilot seemed to see her the second she appeared and he turned, suddenly smiling, making the laugh wrinkles show.

But obviously his lady didn't object. John returned to his table with the drinks as she stepped up and wrapped her.. lover? In a tight hug, to the palpable disappointment of a chunk of the pub's population.

Okay, fine, so white hairs and wrinkles didn't disqualify a guy. He still didn't like the damn things anywhere near his face.

AN: _I'd originally hopped more would appear.. lol, I think smut was requested.. but rather than keep this in the archives.. here it is._


End file.
